i'm like a caged bird
by Luthien Seregon
Summary: Tantalus has hired a new bandit named Cherry. Cherry is a mysterious young woman who gets dragged into the plot of world devastation and falls in love with someone we don't suspect of living. Can Gaia's history be unveiled?or will all die from ignorance?
1. Cheery Cherry!

Chapter 1: Cheery Cherry!!

I do not own any of these characters. All rights are reserved. The only character I lay claim to are the ones not in the games.

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"Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen!" Yelled Baku over the stadium. He had grown older since Zidane had become king twelve years ago. He smiled as he presented the play. "A great Lord had once written this excellent play that of which we have just now discovered! It is the sequel to 'I Want to be Your Canary', 'I'm like a Caged Bird Set Free'" Baku bowed as he walked off stage. The crowd whispered as they wondered why a sequel?

Marcus walked on stage with a sad look on his face. He grunted.

"Why did she have to die. Why did I have to be left so alone?" Marcus asked. Queen Garnet sighed at Marcus's love for the Princess. King Zidane placed his hand over hers. Eiko sniffed delicately, her being all grown up now. She had short hair still, but she was tall and well formed.

On the stage there was a great yell. A ball was thrown onto the stage and a young woman followed by some children came to retrieve it.

"Excuse me, great sir, the children and I have lost our ball. We mean not anything negative." said the young woman. She bent to retrieve the toy and walked away. Marcus sighed as he watched them go.

"Oh Fair princess, my love, show me some way that of which I may be freed from this misery and back into your arms . . ."

Just then, the woman walked back up to him.

"Hello, great sir, it is I again. Are you all right? Your pallor is somewhat curious. Maybe you need to rest?"

"Nay, I need nothing to do with any more life, lest it is to be with my sweet princess."

"Great Sir, you are ill. I shall take you to my house until you are well." said the woman. Marcus started to shake his head no, but he passed out. The children gathered around him and helped the woman carry him off the stage. Baku came back on.

"The young woman carried our young Marcus to her home. But, unfortunately for Marcus, he is now an outlaw and King Leo will not rest until he is dead." Baku said and walked off the stage. Zidane walked to the theatre ship. Garnet smiled and waved at him as the music started.

"Alone for a while I've been searching through the dark, for traces of the love you left inside my lonely heart. To weave by picking up the pieces that remain, Melodies of Life, love's lost refrain. . ." sang the young woman on the stage. Marcus lay asleep in a bed.

Garnet's heart stopped. That was her song. No one but Zidane knew it because it was her song. She looked at the young woman, but saw no face into the hood.

"And so it goes on and on. Melodies of life, to the sky beyond the flying birds, forever and beyond." she sang.

Zidane heard it as he approached Baku at his dressing table.

"Who wrote this?" Zidane asked.

"Oh, just a new comer to Tantalus. She's quite the charmer, if I do say so myself. She wrote the song." Baku said.

"Where did she get this song?" Zidane demanded.

"Well, she says, it was mighty familiar in her home town."

"Where is it?"

"Oh, she never mentions her home much. We just know she can sing, write, and fight. Is there a problem?" he asked.

"No, Baku. How well are you doing. Everything okay?" Zidane asked, propping his feet up on a box of stage props.

"Pretty well. We've been around a lot of places. We wouldn't have such a big hit play if it weren't for that newcomer."

"She gotta name?" Zidane asked.

"Yeah, she has dark red hair, the color of uh . . . red wine, I guess, so we call her Cherry. Her eyes are green and she's really cheery. She's the star of the play. She wanted Ruby to do it, but Ruby said she couldn't. Ruby just has a busy theatre to run, ya know?"

"Yeah, I hear ya!" Zidane agreed. Baku and Zidane talked of current events and how everyone in the family was doing. That's what Zidane and his friends were. Family. When Zidane walked out it was close to Baku's part in the play, so he went back up to his wife and daughter.

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Cherry smiled as she cleaned off her makeup. Her hair was short, but all one length. She had green eyes and her skin was pale. No freckles. It was strange that she had blood red hair and no freckles. The play had been a success. The last play for awhile. Finally, she'd be able to work for real. Real adventures. Real battles. That's what her real passion was. That and to save other's lives. Baku came into her room after knocking.

"Remember, it's going to start at dawn. You'll be paid a good amount. Blank will come with you as well as that other man. With red hair as well. Uh . . . "

"The Flaming Amarant Coral. Yeah. He's really awesome! He was one of the people who helped Zidane save the world. Not to mention, he was once a bounty head. I remember because I was five at the time and wanted to help my mom catch him. But she gave up after a while. She changed after that. So where to and for what?" Cherry asked.

"Maiden Sari it being built back up after the flood from last summer. The workers stumbled upon an ancient tomb or something. A couple went in to find out what it was, but they never came back out. So they decided to hire Tantalus for the job. They didn't have enough funds, so they only got three of you. I felt sorry for them, so I decided to send my best." Baku said.

Cherry smiled and nodded.

"Okay, I promise I'll do my best sir!" Cherry said. She was wearing her traveling clothes, which were basically red, white, and light blue. The skirt was short and sewed up at the place where the hips were and the boots were red. The skirt was blue and the straps that held the skirt up were red. She had a small top that had ruffled sleeves and showed the shoulders. She carried daggers very much like Zidane's. Her back also held dragon wing tattoos. She never knew why she had them, she just did. Cherry smiled and walked past Baku. She remembered Maiden Sari quite well. Duh. That was the first place she met her Mom. Cherry ignored her thoughts as she walked around Alexandria. She needed to go to the nearest tavern and find a bounty head. Why? Because she was bored.

When she got there, she saw a young woman with short blue hair and a horn there. She had green eyes too. Cherry sat down by her at the bar.

"What do you want?" asked the smiling bartender.

"Oh, I would like some ale. A huge mug of it." Cherry said.

"Okay, that'll be five gil. Thank you." she said.

Cherry listened in on the blue haired girl's story.

"Man o man, do I need to give up on him! He's married to my best friend! I can't even tell her how much I love him, either." she said."He friggin' adopted me as his daughter! Why! Oh the agony!"

Cherry took a sip from her mug and said nothing.

"What I need to do is go away! I should go supervise the rebuilding of my home! I was the one who started it! I should be the one to go over everything! That's right!"

"You talking about Maiden Sari?" Cherry asked.

"Yeah, chick, why?"

"I'm Cherry, the best female bandit around, and more than likely better than any male! You wanna go to Maiden Sari with me? That's where I'm headed!" Cherry said.

"Cool. I'll go. I'm Eiko. Yeah. I loved him. I really did. But, he just didn't see me past his true love. Oh well. When do we go?" Eiko asked.

"Dawn. Get ready if you wanna go. Meet me in the theatre ship and we'll show those lazy bastards what we can do!" Cherry said, trying to get Eiko to cheer up.

"Yeah! Damn bastards!" Eiko said.

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Eiko walked through the halls of the castle. She walked past Zidane and Garnet's room. And stopped. Why hadn't he seen that she had once loved him? Eiko hiccuped with her tears. She put the note under the door and walked to her room. She packed the bare necessities. Clothes, her ribbon, and pendants. She'd leave with this Cherry person. She didn't really care what happened now. She just had to get away from Zidane. Eiko crawled out her window and ran to the theatre ship. It was starting to take off and Cherry looked down to the summoner. Cherry threw over a rope and helped Eiko climb up.

Eiko tried her best, but it was much easier for Cherry to pull her up.

"Cool. Come meet the rest of the crew Eiko. I've told them all about you."


	2. Familiar Places, Familair Places

Chapter 2: Familiar places, Familiar Faces

I disclaim the characters that belong to this game.

Please enjoy the second chapter.

Eiko looked at the crew for a moment. Amarant was staring at her with a stoney glare.

"Hey, princess. What're you doing here?" he asked. Eiko smiled at him and hugged him.

"Its been a long time, right Amarant?" Eiko asked. She looked around and noticed Baku, Blank and Cienna. "I sort of missed all you guys. Zidane's friends, remember me?"

Cherry smiled as she smiled.

"She's coming with us." Cherry announced.

"Oh, Gaia. . ." Baku sighed. "Another kidnap?"

"NO! I left a note!" Eiko said.

Cherry smiled again and walked away. Blank watched her leave and followed. Cherry smiled as he approached.

"Ya think Zidane will mind?" Blank asked.

"You told me stories about him, so no. He'll think its good for her. I do too."

Blank was silent. He watched the dark sea of clouds swiftly pass the theater ship. The sun was going to rise soon, and they'd be at Fossil Roo on the Outer Continent. But he knew Cherry felt something. Ir sensed it. She had been with them for about a year, but the crew loved her like she was one of the founders of Tantalus. But she tried to be nice and helpful. That's why she knew about bad things before they happened and she prevented them. She got great respect from the crew. He looked at the woman for a moment and shook his head. She was like a girl version of Zidane in some ways. She smiled and hit on men and women in fun. Mostly after everyone was gone though, Blank noticed how she wondered a while in her mind. Zidane used to do that as well.

The finger tips of rose started to taint the clouds. Cherry, brushed her hair form her face and saw their destination.

"Hey, Blank, I'll meet you guys there. I'm gonna go ahead and clear off the monsters. Get everyone ready to depart and we'll set off to Maiden Sari." Cherry said. She was smiling. Her energy filled Blank like Zidane's would. She then jumped off the rail of the air ship. He shook his head at her and di her bidding.

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Cherry watched the ship fly ahead of her, but that was okay. She lived for the thrill of battle and life. Cherry fell to the ground and landed nimbly on her feet. She grabbed her daggers from her belt and ran at break-neck speed. Few monsters. Only a few were in her way. Cherry smiled as her blades cut through goblin's unsuspecting necks and beetles. It was perfectly done with swift and sudden movements and stops. She then resumed running. When she got back to the airship, which had landed. Eiko had her flute and was talking with Blank. Cherry watched the way Blank reacted to Eiko. Sure, they had once met, but Eiko was Cherry's age then. Only five or so. But now, Blank was blushing viciously. Cherry smiled pleasantly and walked up to Baku.

"I'll protect Eiko. I promise." Cherry said. Amarant approached.

"She's piped down quite a bit from her suppressive life. I kind of miss her old self." said Big Red.

"Yeah, Zidane's life was also getting boring, so he said. I think someone should make an adventure for them, but people have duties to do in life. Well, make sure Blank doesn't make a fool of himself in front of Eiko. Bwahahaha! He'd do it. He was never as smooth in front of the ladies as Zidane was.. Take care of them both, Amarant. You know them better than Cherry does." Baku said. Cherry watched Baku go away. She sucked in her breath through her teeth. Amarant smiled at her and waited for Eiko and Blank to catch up.

The airship floated away and the four adventurers walked in the desert land. Cherry walked behind them while Amarant lead. Cherry had no real problem about being the one in the back. She liked being almost alone. She walked with leisure until she heard something. The wind had changed. Something had blocked it. Something that was now moving. Cherry turned around to see a large blue silver dragon flying ahead. Cherry ran up to it, prepared for it to swoop and land. Eiko and Amarant had noticed it and were preparing to attack. But the dragon didn't stop or swoop. It just kept on flying. Eiko and Amarant stopped and looked around. Blank was trying to catch up.

"Where do you think it came from?" Eiko asked.

"I would think Kuja." Amarant said.

Cherry chased it still. Why? She didn't know. She had had a feeling that she had seen it before. Cherry jumped into the air and landed on it's back. It yelled a warning as Cherry, stooped to avoid the swift winds. She saw in that a heap was laying near the neck of the creature. It had dirty clothes that were gray. It lifted its head and Cherry saw that it was a man. He had silver hair and eyes with the lights of the aura. He looked at her for a moment and started to talk, but he coughed up blood. Cherry crawled up to him.

"Hey! Are you all right?" Cherry yelled.

"You . . .You're not afraid of me?" he asked.

"No." Cherry replied. "I'm Cherry."

"Kuja. . . ." he said.

"Nice to meet you. Was your dragon going to hurt any body?"

"No. we're flying to the dig." he said.

"Why are you so injured?" Cherry asked.

"Monsters." Kuja said.

"Oh, right. I'd better go now. . ." Cheery said, and jumped off. There was a forest below, she noticed and cursed herself. Uh oh. Kuja gasped as she fell. He didn't want anyone else to get hurt! He looked to his dragon but they had already passed the forest of owls.

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Eiko was in shock as they walked under Condie Peity. Where had Cherry gone?

"We'll find her Eiko. She'll catch up, I promise," said Blank.

"She's done even more idiotic things in her time with us. Kuja's dead, so don't worry about her." Amarant told Eiko.

"But, that was his dragon!" Eiko said.

"Don't worry! Cherry could slice that man up if she wanted to."

Eiko was still worried. Even as they neared the Black Mage Forest, she feared for Cherry.

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Cherry fell from the branches. Smart girl, real smart. She landed on the ground. She coughed a little as she hoisted herself up. And then she noticed she was surrounded by black mages. They looked mad or confused. Cherry gasped and tried to back up. They started to enclose. Oh crap.


End file.
